OUR FIREMEN : THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE 

BROOKLYN   FIRE   DEPARTMENT



CHAPTER V

EX-COMMISSIONERS.



- THE FIRST COMMISSIONERS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS

	ALTHOUGH twenty-three years have passed since
the Brooklyn Fire Department was made a corporate institution, the majority
of the men who served as commissioners are alive and well to-day.   Hugh
MCLAUGHLIN, F. S. MASSEY, William A. BROWN, and Anthony F. CAMPBELL were the
first Commissioners the city ever knew.  When the bill establishing the new
Department was signed by Governor HOFFMAN, in 1869, it was brought to
Brooklyn by MCLAUGHLIN and was read in the City HALL. It called for four
Commissioners, who were chosen in the manner already described and as named
above, and immediately assumed their official duties.   MASSEY became
president of the board. In November, 1872, A. F. CAMPBELL resigned, and R.
M. PHRANER was appointed in his place.   In 1873 the governing power at the
Department was reduced from a " Four-headed " to a " Three-headed "
Commission. F. S. MASSEY, Hugh MCLAUGHLIN and R. M. PHRANER were reappointed
by Mayor HUNTER. The latter's term expired July I, 1875. and the vacancy was
filled by James RODWELL. In 1876 Mayor SCHROEDER appointed David WILLIAMS,
James RYAN and Bernard GALLAGHER as successors to the Fire Commission, and
they served from 1877 until 1879, when Mayor HOWELL reappointed Hugh
MCLAUGHLIN, and appointed Moses J. WAFER and Phillip F. BRENNAN as
associates.   They served until June, '80, when they were legislated out of
office by the bill which created the " Single-head " Commission, which is in
force today.   Jacob WORTH was the first to be appointed under that head,
and he served from June, '80, until Feb.'82. Col. John N. PARTRIDGE
succeeded and remained in office until 1884.  Richard H. POILLON served-from
1884 to 1886. and on Feb. 1, 1886 John ENNIS, the present Commissioner, was
appointed, and was reappointed in 1888.


FREDERICK S.. MASSEY.

	Frederick S. MASSEY  who served as President of the Commission during its
first eight years of existence is remembered as a cool-headed, far-seeing
official, who assisted materially in  piloting the new Department through
its infancy.   He was born in Watertown Jefferson County, N.Y., in 1839.
His grandfather.  Hart MASSEY, a native of Vermont was the first settler in
that part of the State.   The youngest of his seven sons was Marcellus, the
father of Frederick S. MASSEY.   The latter came to Brooklyn with his
parents in 1842.   
He received his education in Professor Benjamin DWIGHTS school on Livingston
Street, near Sidney Place.   Leaving school at the age of twenty years he
entered the produce commission house of L. Roberts & Co., where he remained
until the year 1859.   He then became one of the firm of F. A. VAN DYKE,
Jr.., Son & Co., he remained there until the firm dissolved.   In 1862 he
joined the old Volunteer Fire Department, and in six months he was appointed
Foreman of Engine Company No"- 14, in Pierrepont Street.   He served in that
capacity until 1869, when the paid Department was created very largely by
his efforts, and served as president of both the " Four- headed and the
"Three-headed" Commissions.   He was legislated out of office in 1877 by the
"Shannon deal," by which all Democratic office-holders were discharged
Strange as it seemed at the time, the late David WILLIAMS, who succeeded him
as president, was the only Republican on the Commission; his colleagues,
Bernard GALLAGHER and James RYAN were Democrats.   The same year Mayor
HOWELL appointed MASSEY president of the Board of City Works, to succeed
General SLOCUM.   He was appointed by Mayor HOWELL in 1879, and served until
1881.   From that year until 1882 he practiced law and was then appointed a
police justice to fill the vacancy in the Gates Avenue Court caused by the
death of Judge Francis B. FISHER.  At the expiration of the term he was
reappointed and served for four years, after which he was succeeded by Judge
TIGHE.  Since then he has practiced law, and now commands a reputable and
remunerative practice. Ex-Judge MASSEY is universally regarded as the father
of the present Fire Department and was its mainstay for many years.   It was
he, who, in 1869, drew up the bill which created the paid Department, took
it to Albany, and on the last day of the Legislative session that year
succeeded in having it made a law.   As president of the Board of
Commissioners he secured the passage of a bill which authorized the sale of
considerable old and useless fire apparatus which realized about (70,000.
He originated the idea of consolidating the Building and Fire Departments,
and created the Board of Combustibles, as well as the Firemen's Pension
Fund, which now has a bank account of over $100,000.   A local daily paper
thus speaks of him in its issue of July, 1870: "He commences nothing without
first calculating the chances-first surveying the length and breadth of the
subject; next examining who are to be engaged in the work, how much and how
well they can do, and how long they can endure before beginning to think
'There's been enough of this sort of thing."   Positiveness is one of his
features, and a frank expression of opinion leaves no person in doubt as to
any business with which, he is connected. It is rarely that he goes astray;
should he do so, let aio more of that sort approach him ever after." He is a
Trustee of the old Volunteer Firemen's Fund and has held that position since
1862. He has been connected with the direction of the Inebriate Home for
many years, and was lately elected vice-president of the Board of Directors
of that institution. He is a member of the Society of Old Brooklynites.


HUGH  MCLAUGHLIN. 

	Hugh MCLAUGHIIN, Brooklyn's Under Sheriff, was one of President
MASSEY's ablest colleagues on the first Board of Fire Commissioners.  He was
born in the First Ward in Brooklyn, April 3. 1827, and is a son of the late
John MCLAUGHLIN.   He was educated at John MURRAY's school, which was then
situated under St. James' Church on Jay Street, McGowan's school on Jay near
Concord Street, one or two public schools, and finished his education at
O'Hagan's school, then held under the old Gothic HALL on Adams Street. He
at once turned his attention toward learning a trade and apprenticed
himself with Murtha REARDEN, a cooper of Pearl Street.   Young MCLAUGHLIN
remained with REARDEN until he was twenty years old, and devoted himself to
his trade until 1856, when he was appointed a deputy-sheriff by Sheriff
Jerome RYERS On   The same year he was elected Supervisor of the Second Ward
by the Democrats.  In 1857 he was reappointed a deputy by Sheriff George
REMSEN.   The succeeding year found him an Inspector of the Custom House,
under President Buchanan.   He was reappointed by President LINCOLN and
served a second term of four years.   In 1866-7 he represented the Second
District in the Aldermanic Chamber. His connection with the Fire Department
has been a long and WORTHy one.   He entered the old Volunteer Department in
1846, and joined Engine Company No. 1 in Prospect Street.   Later he became
a member of Engine Company No. 6, in Pearl Street, where he remained until
the paid Department was organized.   In his appointment as Commissioner
under the new regime in 1869.  He received a well-merited reward for
faithful service.   From the time of his appointment he was always in favor
of any movement which would benefit the Department.   When the
"Three-headed" system was inaugurated in 1873 Mr. MCLAUGHLIN still kept his
place and was legislated out of office for political reasons in 1877.   In
1879 he was again appointed and served until 1880, when the "Single-headed"
Commission came in.   From that year Mr. MCLAUGHLIN retired into private
life until 1885 when he was appointed under sheriff by Sheriff Charles B.
PARLEY.   Sheriff COURTNEY reappointed him in 1891.   Mr. MCLAUGHLIN is a
member of the Constitution and Portland Clubs and a number of shooting and
fishing organizations, in which sports he takes considerable interest.


- WILLIAM A. BROWN. 

	William A. BROWN, another of the members of the first Board of
Commissioners, was born in Railway, N. J, on September 23, 1835.
When he was ten years of age, his parents removed from Rahway and took up
their residence in South Brooklyn, where they resided for two years.   In
the spring of 1847 they moved to Williamsburg, where Mr. BROWN continued his
studies in the public school until he arrived at the age of fourteen.   In
pursuance of his resolution to become self-supporting, he took a position in
a New York wholesale cloth house, where he remained for two years.   He then
took a clerkship with his fathers firm of Hardy & BROWN, lumber dealers, at
the foot of North First Street, where he remained for four years.   During
this time he became quite a popular young man in the Ward in which he lived,
and had learned enough about politics to secure a clerkship in the County
Register's office.   Two years later found him advanced to clerk of the
Fourth District Court, in which capacity he served for twelve consecutive
years.   He cast his first vote in 1856 for James BUCHANAN for President of
the United States, and has voted the straight Democratic ticket from that
time to the present.   Appointed a Fire Commissioner in 1869, he took a
useful part in the organization of the new Department, remaining a member of
the Board during the term of the " Four-headed " Commission.   In January,
1881, Mr. BROWN was appointed an accountant in the Board of Auditors'
office, and he still retains that position.   He is married and lives at No.
293 South Fifth Street, in the Thirteenth Ward.


- ANTHONY F. CAMPBELL.

	Anthony F. CAMPBELL also was a member of the "Four-headed" Commission
Appointed in 1869 to organize the new Fire Department.   He was bom in
Boston in December, 1822, and while still in his infancy removed to this
city with his parents. Early in life he learned the sail-making business;
and when he became a young man started in that business for himself on South
Street, New York City.   He prospered so well in business that a few years
later he rented another building on West Street, and an both places he
continued to do business until 1860, when he was elected Sheriff of King's
County.   During the riots of July, 1863, he gave shelter to several hundred
negroes who flocked to the jail for protection.   On the 9th of March, 1865,
President Abraham LINCOLN appointed Mr. CAMPBELL United States Marshal for
the Eastern District of New York, for the term of four years; but he
resigned the office in 1866 for personal reasons.   On July 17, 1868,
President Andrew JOHNSON appointed him deputy- postmaster of Brooklyn, in
which capacity he served until May, 1869, when he received his appointment
as Fire Commissioner.  He remained in office until November 1, 1872, when he
resigned to look after and improve a handsome country place which he had
just purchased. Mr. CAMPBELL was a member of the Wallabout Commission, and
he labored hard for seven years to establish what has since been the
connecting link between the Eastern and Western Districts.   His brother
Commissioners, Judge Alexander MCCUE and Seymour L. HUSTED, have since died
and so have the contractors who did the work. Mr. CAMPBELL has been a
fireman ever since he was old enough to run with a "machine," and is a
member of the Veteran Volunteer Firemen's Association of this city. He
became a member of the Volunteer Department on May 6, 1844, and attached
himself to Franklin Engine Company No. 3, of which Frank STRYCKER was
Foreman.   In 1846 he organized Lafayette Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, and
was Foreman of that company until 1848 when he resigned to organize Mechanic
Hose Company No. 2. Two years later he organized and became Foreman of
Washington Hose Company No. 6, of which company Sheriff COURTNEY became a
member. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Volunteer Department
for nineteen years, and served as president of both Boards of
Representatives for thirteen consecutive years.  On his retirement from the
presidency, March 15, 1855, he was presented with a handsomely engrossed set
of resolutions, which he esteems very highly. He received a certificate of
honorable discharge from the Volunteer Department on the 23d of March, 1857.
This certificate, together with those of his appointment as United States
marshal, deputy postmaster, and that of his discharge from the Volunteer
Department hang neatly framed on the walls of his library. Mr. CAMPBELL,
although three score and ten, is still a very active man. He attributes his
good health and long life to his custom of spending several months of the
year at his country residence.   He was a prominent politician in this city
for many years, but when he resigned the office of Fire Commissioner, he
also resigned all the cares and responsibilities of politics, and has since
been seeking such recreation as will make his declining years the most
pleasant of his life.   He has a wife and family, and resides at No. 137
North Oxford Street.


- R. M. PHRANER. 

	Ex-Fire Commissioner R. M. PHRANER, better known in his lifetime as Mark
among his intimate friends, was bom in the old Ninth Ward of Brooklyn.
While still in his teens he joined the Volunteer Department, and ran with
old Engine No. 9.  By occupation he was a master bricklayer. He was
appointed Fire Commissioner November 1, 1872, to succeed his brother-in-law,
Anthony F. CAMPBELL, whose term of office expired  on that date.   Mr.
PHRANER continued in office up to July 1, 1875, when he was succeeded by
James RODWELL.   In 1883 he was stricken with paralysis, which rendered him
Itll partially helpless for the rest of his life.  For many years Mr.
PHRANER was the leader of  the Republican party in the old Ninth Ward, and
at the time of his death, which occurred in January, 1888, was an Inspector
in the Board of City Works.  Beside being an active politician, he was a
member in good standing of Clinton Commandery, K. T., Commonwealth Lodge,
No. 409, F. and A. M., Orient Chapter, No. 138, R. A. M., and the Veteran
and Volunteer Firemen's Associations.


- JAMES RODWELL.  
   
	James RODWELL was appointed by Mayor John W. HUNTER in 1874 as a Fire
Commissioner to succeed Commissioner PHRANER in the " Three-headed "
Commission. Mr. RODWELL was born in Norfolk, nine miles from London,
England, on January 5, 1823, and although rapidly nearing the
three-score-and-ten mark in the journey of life, he is still actively
engaged in the real estate business, at No. 45 Broadway, Williamsburgh. He
came to this country with his parents in 1832, the " cholera year."   During
the two  years' residence of the family in New York City, Mr. RODWELL
attended a public school in Rivington Street.   In 1834 the family removed
to Williamsburgh and took up their residence on First Street, near South
First Street.   Mr. RODWELL's father was a mason builder by trade, and when
the family settled in Williamsburgh, young James worked  with his father
during the day, and attended night school.   He continued in his father's
employ until he arrived at the age of twenty-one, when he launched into the
world on his own responsibility as a builder of no little importance, and at
the same time took unto himself a wife.   In the latter part of 1844 he
joined the Volunteer Fire Department, attaching himself to Protection Engine
Company No. 2.   In 1857 he was elected a Commissioner of the Volunteer
Department, in which capacity he served with Commissioners Richard HARDING,
William HANSEN, Demas S. STRONG and Mr. MEEKS, for five years, when he
severed his connection with the Volunteer Department.   Under the "
Three-headed " Commission, Mr. RODWELL had the entire supervision of the
Building Department, and it was during this period that the Municipal
Building was erected.  As a Fire Commissioner he superintended the removal
of 287 bodies from the ruins of the Brooklyn theatre fire.   As a builder,
he has erected some very fine buildings in the city of Brooklyn, and among
them St. John's College for Girls at Willoughby and Summer Avenue, the Home
of the Little Sisters of the Poor, at Bushwick and De Kalb Avenues, the
Roman Catholic Church at Lewis and Willoughby Avenues, St. Vincent's and St.
Paul's Church on North Sixth Street, All Soul's Church on South Ninth
Street, the Forty-Seventh Regiment Armory at Lynch and Marcy Avenues, a
large tin factory- on South Ninth Street, the office building of the
Williamsburgh Gas Light Company at the comer of South Second Street and
Bedford Avenue.   He also built three sugar-houses in Williamsburgh and
Greenpoint for Winchen, Dick, Sierck & Company, and any number of handsome
and costly residences in the Eastern District.   He retired from the
building business about three years ago, and has since been engaged in the
real estate business.   Mr. RODWELL is an owner of real estate, and is a
director in the King's County Savings Bank, the Manufacturers National Bank,
the Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company, and is president of the Cypress
Hills Cemetery Company.   He lives at No. 91 Hancock Street.


- DAVID WILLIAMS. 

	David WILLIAMS was at one time a prominent figure in the
Brooklyn Fire Department.   He died, in fact, while holding office as
president of the "Three-headed"' Commission.   He was born in New York City
in the year 1838.   After passing through the public schools with credit, he
entered the National Law School at Poughkeepsie, and was, in due course of
time, admitted to the Bar.   He practised his profession for some years in
partnership with his brother, Sidney WILLIAMS.   Politics always possessed a
charm for him; and, upon attaining his majority, he became an enthusiastic
and active Republican.   For four successive years he was elected chairman
of the General Committee of his party in Brooklyn.  Senator CONKLING was
one of his closest friends.   When a delegate to the National Republican
Convention he made himself conspicuous by his endeavor to secure the
nomination of General GRANT for a third term in the presidential chair.   On
November 5, 1877, he was made one of the " Three-headed" Commission of Fire
and Buildings, and was at the same time appointed to the office of president
of that Department.   His colleagues were James RYAN and Bernard GALLAGHER,
both of whom survived him.   Their term lasted till September 5, 1879.
Being a ready and impressive speaker and possessed of unusual vigor of mind
and energy of body, his services were naturally in constant demand by his
political party.   He was, in consequence, much before the public, and
became widely known and very popular.   Mr. WILLIAMS married a Miss Sarah
GILE, who, with her four children, survives him.   He had two sisters and
four brothers.   Samuel and Edward are retired gentlemen, living at their
country seats in Jersey, and Sidney is a lawyer, practising at the Brooklyn
Bar.   John WILLIAMS is dead.   His mother, who was a remarkable woman in
many ways, died at the advanced age of ninety-two, within the last three
years.   His parents, being Baptists, brought him up to their religious
persuasion.   He also belonged to the Masonic fraternity. Never physically
strong, he yet always displayed great nervous energy.   Chronic pneumonia,
against which he had fought for years, at last overpowered him, and he died
July 22, 1879, at his home in Brooklyn.


- JAMES RYAN. 

	James RYAN, who was one of the "Three-headed " Commission of the
Department of Fire and Buildings, appointed by Mayor SCHROEDER in 1877, was
born in the County  of Clare, Ireland, June 10, 1844.   He came to America
with his parents in 1849. His father, Thomas RYAN, located himself in the
Fifth Ward, Brooklyn, and lived there continuously up to November, 1891,
when he died at the age of eighty years.   Young RYAN was educated in Public
School No. 7, and in the School of the Assumption.   At the age of sixteen
he entered the hat manufacturing establishment of his uncle, John  GUERIN,
in the Fifth Ward, as an apprentice, and served there until he reached his
majority.   He then engaged in business for himself, and opened a hat store
at No. 169 Fulton Street, where he remained for twelve years, assisted by
his brother John.   His appointment to a fire commissionership was
gratifying not only to the Democratic party but to the general public, which
regarded him as a man well fitted for the post.   He did not disappoint
them, as his career was marked by a display of good judgment and executive
ability.   Mr. RYAN held his office from November 5, 1877, to September 5,
1879.  The records show that during that period there were more fires and
less losses to "the insurance companies than at any time subsequent to the
creation of the Department.   In 1880 he closed his store on Fulton Street
and accepted the position of foreman in a New York hat warehouse, and has
held that position ever since.   Mr. RYAN resides at No. 166 High Street,
which has been his home for the last sixteen years. His aged mother, who is
an invalid, lives with him as well as a sister and a brother. Mr. RYAN never
married.   In religion he is a devout Catholic, in politics an ardent
Democrat.   He possesses those characteristics which invariably make a man
popular; and a charitable and kindly disposition and unprejudicial public spirit.            


- BERNARD GALLAGHER. 

	Bernard GALLAGHER stands to-day in the foremost ranks of
building contractors both in the city of Brooklyn and in New York.   He was
born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland, on June 29, 1838, and came to this
country in June, 1845, with his parents, Owen and Rosa GALLAGHER, who
located at Williamsburgh.   He attended the public schools until thirteen
years of age, when he began to learn the trade of ropemaker.   He prosecuted
this line of work for three years, when he relinquished it and turned his
attention to carpentering.   He served two years' apprenticeship with Owen
MCCARRON, the father of Senator Patrick J. MCCARRON.   After passing four
years more in the apprenticeship of William H. NOE on Schermerhorn Street,
he worked as a journeyman carpenter until the autumn of 1861, when he
reached his twenty-third year.   He then went into business for himself as a
carpenter and builder.   On November 5, 1877, Mayor SCHROEDER appointed him
one of the " Three-headed " Commissioner of Fire and Buildings, which office
he held until September 5, 1879.   He was one of the Commissioners who went
into office when the "Shannon deal" decapitated Messrs. MASSEY, MCLAUGHLIN
and RODWELL.  The law at that time required one of the Commissioners of the
Department to be a practical builder, as the Buildings Department was
amalgamated with the Fire Department. Mr. GALLAGHER's knowledge of that
business in all its details eminently fitted him for the position.   He was
regarded as one of the most useful members of the Board.   Since the
expiration of his term, Mr. GALLAGHER has devoted himself entirely to
business.   On July 25, 1866, he married Mary E.,  second daughter of George
B. MCGRATH of Brooklyn.   His family now consists of two sons and five
daughters.   Mr. GALLAGHER is a man of medium stature.   He has iron gray
hair, an exceedingly intellectual expression and manners which show at times
great nervous energy.  He belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and in
politics has allied himself to the Democratic party.   For ten years he was
president of the order of the Sons of St. Patrick in this city and is also a
member of the Hanover and Windsor Clubs.


- MOSES J. WAFER. 

	Moses J. WAFER, who was a member of the " Three-headed "
Commission from September 5, 1879, to June 24, 1880, was born in the
County Wexford, Ireland, on the 28th day of October, 1850, and at the age of
two years came with his parents to this country, and settled in the Sixth
Ward, in which ward Mr. WAFER still resides.  He received his education in
the public schools of Brooklyn.   At the age of fourteen he left school to
take a clerkship in a grocery store.   Three years later he went to learn
the carpenter's trade with a well-known builder of this city.   He worked
seven years at the trade, and then turned his attention to the liquor
business, in which he is still engaged. Owing to his thorough knowledge of
the building business, he was appointed in 1878, an Inspector in the
Building Department and detailed to duty in the kerosene bureau.   He was
appointed a Fire Commissioner September 5,1879, and served in that capacity
up to June 24, 1880, when the " Three-headed " Commission was legislated
out, and the " Single-headed" Commission was created.   In 1884, Mr. WAFER
was elected to the Assembly from the First District, and was reflected from
the same District for three successive terms thereafter.   In 1889 he was
appointed to fill the unexpired term of Mr. KANE in the Board of Aldermen,
and in 1891 was elected from the First Aldermanic District for a full term,
which expires January 1, 1893.   Mr. WAFER is married and lives at No. 124
Harrison Street.


- PHILIP F. BRENNAN. 

	Philip F. BRENNAN was born in Illinois, in 1843, and came to Brooklyn when
very young. In 1861, when the war of the Rebellion broke out, though only a
young lad, he enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment of Brooklyn, and served
throughout the war. After the war he embarked for a time in mercantile
business, but finally identified himself with Republican party politics, and
for two years he gave his whole time to it. He then became a commercial
traveller for a large house in New York, and only occasionally visited his
old comrades.   He was always a familiar figure around the City HALL, and
politically he was much sought after.   With settled habits his career might
have been a brilliant one but erratic methods and a roving disposition
militated against him.   In 1871, he received an appointment in the Internal
Revenue Department.   About that time he took a deal of interest in the
advancement of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he was a warm supporter
of General James JOURDAN, then one of its leading exponents.   For several
years he again " played with politics," but  always seemed to meet with
adversity.   On September 5, 1879, he was appointed a Fire Commissioner, by
Mayor HOWELL, along with Hugh MCLAUGHLIN and Moses J. WAFER, to succeed
Commissioners WILLIAMS, GALLAGHER, and RYAN.
In June of the following year, BRENNAN, along with his colleagues, was
legislated out of office by the "Single-headed " Commission bill.  Later on
he drifted into the ranks of the Independent Democrats, and was a member of
the political organization started by General Henry W. SLOCUM and John W.
FLAHERTY, and afterward of Jefferson HALL.   Later he returned to his old
party and was a Republican at the time of his death, which occurred in
March, 1888.



- JACOB WORTH.
       
	Jacob WORTH, the first Fire Commissioner appointed under the act of the
Legislature reducing the number of Commissioners from three to one, has had
a phenomenal career.   He is a striking example of a self-made man, and
deserves to be classed among those who have won honor and become prominent
in public affairs through native intelligence, untiring industry and
faithfulness.   He was born in New York City, in May, 1838.   His
opportunities for acquiring an education were exceedingly limited, for at
the age of eight he was put to work in a rope-walk, where he served a
six-years' apprenticeship.   He then obtained employment as a teamster, and
later on took up the occupation of a boatman.   At the age of eighteen, he
entered the United States Navy as an apprentice.   During several long
cruises he acquired not only a fair education but much worldly experience,
which was of great benefit to him in later life.  At the outbreak of the
Civil War, Mr. WORTH enlisted in the 139th Regiment, New York Volunteers.
While serving with this regiment he made a record of which any man might be
proud.   In 1863, in recognition of his services, he was commissioned
captain in the 84th Regiment, in which regiment he remained until it was
mustered out of service at the close of the war.   He was in a great many
noted engagements, among them the Seven Days' Battle of the Wilderness, and
those of the Peninsula campaign.   After the war he took up his residence in
the i6th Ward of Brooklyn, and began to interest himself in public affairs.
Politically, he was a stanch Republican, and it was not long before his
right to be a leader began to be felt in the ward.   His popularity had
become so great in the latter part of 1864 that he received the nomination
for Assembly in the Ninth District, and was elected by an overwhelming
majority. His constituents were so well pleased with his career in Albany,
that they continued to reelect him for six successive terms.   In 1879 Mr.
WORTH was appointed Commissioner of City Works, by Mayor HOWELL, and he is
accredited with having saved considerable money for the city government
during his time of service.   On June 24, 1880, Mayor James HOWELL named Mr.
WORTH the first appointee of the "Single-head " Commission.   During his
administration, which continued up to February 7, 1882, many changes were
made, and new laws and regulations introduced into the Department.   One of
the most important improvements made in the Department by Mr. WORTH is the
present system of fire-alarm telegraph.   Mr. WORTH was a presidential
elector in 1868, and again in 1876 ; has been a delegate to nearly every
Republican State Convention since 1876, and was a delegate to the Republican
National Convention in 1876, and again in 188o.   He was a member of the
King's County Republican Committee for over twenty years, and served as a
member of the Republican State Committee several years.   He was elected a
State Senator in 1885, and reflected in 1887, and ran for Congress against
Mr. BLISS, but was defeated.   Mr.  WORTH is an old volunteer fireman, and
ran with Hose Company No. 2 for several years.  He has a family, and lives
at No. 94 Lee Avenue, in the Eastern District.


- RICHARD H. POILLON.

	Richard H. POILLON, who was Fire Commissioner in 1884 and 1885, was born in
New York City on the 5th of November, 1846.   He is the eldest son of the
late Richard POILLON, a member of the firm of C. & R. POILLON, shipbuilders,
of New York and Brooklyn.   He was educated in the public schools and at the
Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in 1864. He entered the
United States Military Academy at West Point in 1867 and graduated from
there with high honors in 1871.   After leaving West Point he started on a
tour around the world, and was a member of the tourist party, who under the
direction of United States Minister DE LONG. first penetrated into the
interior of Japan. Returning from this tour, which occupied about nine
months, Mr. POILLON entered the United States regular army as a commissioned
officer, and served about three years on the frontier, principally in
California and Arizona.   In 1874 he resigned from the army and returned to
Brooklyn, where he engaged in the lumber business on the Gowanus Canal.
Subsequently, he retired from the lumber business to accept the position of
chief Deputy Collector in the Internal Revenue office, under Colonel Rodney
C. WARD, then Collector of the First District, New York.   Mr. POILLON
resigned this position in 1882 to accept that of Deputy Fire Commissioner,
which was tendered him by Commissioner John N. PARTRIDGE, to succeed whom,
in 1884, Duputy POILLON was appointed Fire Commissioner.   Having had the
experience of two years' service as deputy, Commissioner POILLON assumed
office with an accurate knowledge of its duties and requirements. Although
greatly hampered by the passage of the Underground Telegraph bill, June 14,
1884, Commissioner POILLON, believing that the efficiency of the Department
was greatly dependent upon the strength of its telegraphic service, bent all
his energies toward making the latter as effective as possible during his
term of office, and succeeded in affording protection to certain sections of
'the city which had been previously neglected.  Commissioner POILLON was
present in person, and in direct communication with Chief NEVINS at all the
principal fires which occurred during his term as Commissioner. It was
during his administration that the fire-boat, Seth Low, was built, and
several necessary companies were organized.   Commissioner POILLON favored
the organization of an insurance patrol for the protection of the dry goods
district; and also, owing to the increase of high buildings, strongly
recommended the organization of a life-saving corps. When he was succeeded
by Commissioner ENNIS, Mr. POILLON devoted himself to the fire insurance
business in this city and New York.   In 1879 he was appointed Engineer
officer with the rank of major on the staff of Brigadier General E. L.
MOLINEUX, a position which he held while Generals BROWNELL and Ward
commanded the Fourth Brigade.



Transcribed for the Brooklyn Pages by Mimi Stevens
BROOKLYN FIRE DEPT. Chapter 6
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